


Of Seafoam and Storms

by MountianSpirit



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Fairy Hyrule, Hurt/Comfort, Mermaid Legend, make those tags please...
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:41:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24431512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MountianSpirit/pseuds/MountianSpirit
Summary: The group gets split up in Wind's Hyrule after a switch, it's all downhill for Legend from there.Or: I try to write about mermaid Legend with fairy Hyrule and it just. Spirals out of control.
Comments: 33
Kudos: 199





	1. Pink Wings, Pink Scales

**Author's Note:**

> This was SUPPOSED to be a fic about mermaid Legend... but at page 41 in the doc with only 5 featuring mer Legend, I realized its just about how Legend's past with water and the ocean has affected him.  
> Well, Enjoy!

The shift was sudden this time, happening while they were all spread out in a market in Twilight's Hyrule, leaving them split up in an unfamiliar area. Legend was glad to see Hyrule still by his side when they popped into an unfamiliar stone room, so hopefully the rest of their group were still in their pairs from the market as well.

“Where are we?” Hyrule asked, looking around the room.

“I dunno, I was gonna ask you the same thing.” Looking around, the room was completely made of stone with a small puddle of glowing blue water as the only source of light, two small pots resting on either side of it, and it smelled of salt. After checking their surroundings, Legend went over to the only door in the room and tried to open it. Cursing when the knob wouldn’t turn. “It won't budge.”

“Maybe there's a key in one of the pots?"

The two went over and grabbed a pot each, throwing them against the wall and breaking them. There was nothing in his.

“I found a rupee.” Hyrule said as he picked the green rupee off the floor.

“Just the one?”

“Yeah.”

Legend sighed and looked around again before eyeing the puddle. Kneeling down, he stuck his hand in it to find that it came from under the wall, but the gap was way too small for anyone to fit through.

“Hm. You got any bombs?” Legend asked, shaking the water off his hands. Definitely salt water.

Hyrule frowned and shook his head. Legend cursed again. If only they had Wild’s slate that produced bombs. Hyrule shifted nervously while Legend thought.

“Uhm. I have an idea to unlock the door, but promise me you won't tell anyone?” He said after a minute.

“Sure? As long as we get out of here.”

“Ok, just don't make a big deal out of it please.”

“Of course not.”

“Ok…” Hyrule took a deep breath and closed his eyes, saying something under his breath and he began to glow a faint pink, then he shrunk, the glowing growing brighter until Hyrule was floating with a pair of wings on his back.

Hyrule wasted no time after the transformation to fly into the keyhole in the door, Legend following him with interest and to make sure he stayed alright. A click eventually sounded from the doorknob, signaling that it was unlocked. Legend was about to reach for it when a small voice shouted.

“WAIT! DON'T OPEN IT YET!”

“What? Why?”

“Wait until I come out!”

Legend waited a minute for Hyrule to come out, but when he didn’t he started to worry. “Hyrule? You alright?”

“Uh…” Ok, so he is still there. “M. My wing is kinda stuck.”

Legend lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. “Just your wing?”

“Yea…?”

“Hyrule.”

“I promise it’s just my wing!”

Legend sighs in exasperation this time. “You're not hurt are you? Just stuck?”

“Yeah, just stuck...”

“Ok, good. How long until you think you can get out? Do you need any help?”

“I don't know… I don't think so? This isn't the first time I’ve gotten stuck in a keyhole… AHH!!”

The sudden shout of pain startles Legend. “What?! What happened?”

Instead of answering, the door clicks a few more times before Hyrule appears from the keyhole, balancing between the room and the lock and holding onto his shoulder with a grimace.

“Hyrule, what happened?” Legend asks a bit more sternly this time, making Hyrule look sheepish.

“I.. Hurt my wing while getting it unstuck…”

“Dear Hylia Rule, don't scare me like that!” Legend sighs as he begins to dig around his bag for a red potion or something, slamming the top of it closed in frustration when he comes up with nothing. “We switched before I could get any more health potions.”

“Crap.”

“Can you heal it yourself in that form?” Legend asks.

“No, I can’t. And I can't turn back either, I don't know what that’ll do to me or my wing and I’d rather not find out."

“Yeah, that sounds reasonable. Fuck. At least the doors unlocked now, right?” Hyrule nodded. "Good. Come here." Legend held out his hand for Hyrule to step onto, then placed him on his shoulder. Now that his wings weren't hidden in the keyhole, Legend could see one was bent at an odd angle. "When we get out of here I'll get some potions at the next town, or if we find Wild first I'll make him make some."

"Ok, thank you."

Legend opens the door, cautious of what could be behind it and finds himself in a long cave with a river flowing through one side of it, the water glowing and blue like the puddle in the room, lighting the cave with a blue glow and a stronger smell of salt. It looks clear of monsters so far, so legend starts walking, holding one hand under the shoulder hyrule was sitting on just in case he fell, which was unlikely because hyrule had a hand wrapped tightly in Legends tunic, but better safe than sorry.

Legend walks through the stone hallway carefully, listening for any sounds other than him, the river, and hyrule, but there were none. It was silent save for the rushing water.

Further ahead, legend could see the river and stone hallway curve to the right, so he took care to step lightly and as close to the river as he dared so he didn't alert any potential enemies. He didn’t notice something on the wall beside them moving as they walked by until Hyrule told him to wait.

“There's something on the wall.” He whispered.

Legend turned to look at the wall, and it took him a second to make out the figure of a lizalfos from Wild’s hyrule, but as soon as he noticed what it was, it jumped off the wall at him. In a practiced move, Legend slid his shield from his back and blocked the blow, placing a foot in the river to keep his ground.The clang echoed down the hall with the water while Hyrule struggled to keep his balance. The lizalfos, silver he noticed, jumped back before running at him again and legend unsheathed his sword to swing at it, causing a deep gash along the lizalfos chest. Black blood poured from the wound. Great. It’s infected. It jumped back again to scream at him, and something flew past his face, barely missing his nose. Time seemed to slow as Legend followed it with his gaze until it hit the stone ground of the hall. An arrow.

“More monsters to your right!” Hyrule said, leaning to look at the source of the arrow from his left.

Legend turned to see a black bokoblin taking aim again while a silver and another black ran to him with spiked clubs in their hands.

“Lizalfos!”

Legend barely dodged the lizalfos that time, and Hyrule nearly tumbled off his shoulder as he went to strike it, then immediately went to dodge the black bokoblin’s club.

“Sorry,” Legend muttered to Hyrule and in a quick movement, Legend grabbed an empty bottle from his bag and put Hyrule in it, his shocked yell making him feel worse, but he’d rather not risk Hyrule getting more hurt in the fight as small as he is right now.

He dodged the silver bokoblin next then swung his sword at it. It dodged, and the lizalfos spat at him, making him stumble further into the water. An arrow made itself at home in his left shoulder before he recovered his stance, and he barely dodged the black bokoblin again when the silver bokoblin landed a hit on his back and sent him flying into the river.

* * *

Hyrules gotta say, getting put into a glass bottle with a possibly, no, definitely broken wing in the middle of a battle was not fun. Having the bottle suddenly move very violently in the bag was not fun. Hyrule could barely hear Legend too, and he was going against a group of infected monsters by himself, to say Hyrule was worried is an understatement.

His worried thought process is stopped a few minutes later by light and a hand grabbing his bottle as Legend pulls him out of his bag, and Hyrule immediately notices the water surrounding the bottle as it was brought out. Confused, he turns around to see legend with a broken arrow sticking out of his left shoulder and the small steady stream of blood that surrounded it. Legend looked really tired, but otherwise not drowning. Probably because he had gills on his neck, the edges of his green tunic folded down so it didn’t block them. Hyrule wondered where he got them, and how they ended up in the water.

_“Are you OK?”_ Legend signs with his right hand.

_“A bit shaken up, but OK.”_ Hyrule signs back.

Legend didn’t look wholly convinced, but after a minute it must’ve been good enough because he sighed and relaxed a bit.

_“Are you OK?”_ Hyrule asked, still eyeing the broken arrow.

Legend let out a silent laugh then flinched. After he relaxed he signed, _“Got hit in the back pretty hard, left shoulder hurts. It’s gonna be a pain in the ass getting anywhere like this.”_

Hyrule nodded and looked around their surroundings. They were completely surrounded by water lit up by the sun, with a large stone cliff hanging above them, the overhang appearing to have an air pocket in it while the actual surface of the ocean appeared to be way above the cliff. That must be where the cave was. Probably a good thing they didn’t have any bombs afterall…

_“I think we’re in Wind’s hyrule.”_ Hyrule caught Legend signing and looked back down to him.

_“What makes you say that?”_

Legend nodded to his right and hyrule looked to see a bunch of broken stone, furniture, and what appeared to be statues littering the seafloor. A single gold chair sat upright, its red cushions faded and covered in algae and small plants. A throne, Hyrule realizes. He looks back up and sees at the top of the cliff where the stone turns to faded white stone blocks, walls caved in and sealife still growing, claiming the abandoned palace of Hyrule as its own.

“Oh.” Hyrule said out loud.

_“Yeah, ‘oh’.”_

_“Well, what do we do? Are you even ok to travel? How long can you breathe water like that?”_

Legend rolled his eyes at all of Hyrule’s questions. _“First off, we can’t very well just sit here and wait, no one else can find us down here as far as I’m concerned. I will be just fine traveling, and for the last question, indefinitely.”_

Hyrule frowned up at Legend, but before he could say anything more, legend reached up the side of the cliff with his right hand and carefully used it as leverage to stand up- or Hyrule thought he was going to stand up, but instead Legend carefully pushed himself off the seafloor and started to swim up the side of the cliff, and that's when Hyrule finally noticed, that Legend didn’t have legs anymore. In the place of his legs was a pink fish tail with hints of gold in it.

Hyrule stared for a minute, a million more questions coming to mind before he realized he was probably being rude and looked back up. Legend didn’t ask questions about him being a fairy, Hyrule wont ask legend about being a mermaid. They passed the tunnel they were in before, and Hyrule watched as they swam up the sides of the castle, Legend keeping his right hand by the walls to stay steady. Old red rugs flowed in currents with old drapes, and toppled furniture lay along the wreckage of the palace. A tower had collapsed straight down into itself, the shingles trapping whatever was underneath it, never to be found again. Hyrule really wanted to explore inside the castle now, but prioritized finding help for himself and Legend first. Maybe another time he can convince the veteran hero to bring him down here again, though he doubted it… Hyrule doubts Legend would’ve avoided getting into water up until now if he didn’t want this to be a secret in the first place.

Legend paused at the top of the tower they swam up to breathe. Hyrule looked up at him worried. He looked really tired, but Hyrule couldn't say anything because Legend wasn't looking at him. He was lying with his head resting in his right arm, eyes closed as Legend focused on controlling his breathing. Hyrule hoped when he said he got hit in the back hard, he didn’t break any ribs.

Hyrule knocked on the glass as hard as he could without hurting his hand. Legend opened his eyes to look down at him and Hyrule signed, _“Are you alright?”_

Legend nodded, taking another minute to rest before pushing off the roof and continuing to swim up into the open water, Hyrules bottle held close to his chest, blocking off half his view of the surrounding waters, but looking down, it was interesting to watch the ruins of an abandoned flooded palace fade into the depths of the ocean beneath them.

By the time they reached the ocean's surface, Legend was out of breath again and looked absolutely exhausted, only managing to keep half his face above the water as he looked around for a minute before submerging completely again, eyes closed as he tried to focus on breathing for a second time. Hyrule hoped they could find an island fast. Somewhere for Legend to at least rest for a while. Legend fixed the neckline of his green tunic, a part of it had unfolded to partially block a gill. 

_“I’ll start swimming in a direction, get us to an island faster.”_ He signed, and Hyrule nodded.

_“Just don’t push yourself too hard, ok?”_

Legend rolled his eyes but nodded, taking off in the direction they were already facing, staying just below the surface of the water.

* * *

Legend was exhausted. There was no way he could hide it. His back hurt like crazy, he had an arrow in his shoulder, and being thrown into the water the way he was, really made him freak out. He doesn't know how long he sat on the seafloor trying to calm himself down and just breathe. At this point he’s brushing it off as just his back making it difficult, that the smell of the salt water has nothing to do with it, that the sound of seagulls overhead when he stuck his head out of the water for barely a minute didn’t make him see red hair, a blue dress-

No, stop thinking. Focus on breathing. Focus on finding an island and get hyrule to safety. Focus on finding the others. Focus on anything but that.

Legend was starting to get light headed, it really was hard to breathe. His back hurt so much. He held the bottle Hyrule was in close to his chest, careful not to move it too much to avoid hurting him. It was weird, Legend felt like he had to be extra careful with how small Hyrule is, or the wrong move could easily break him.

At some point, Legend had to stop swimming to catch his breath. He was so tired. He looked around while he floated, seeing if he could see any nearby islands or ships from below the water’s surface, but nothing yet. Legend hoped they could find someplace soon. Preferably an island. He didn’t want the others to know about this. Hyrule didn’t seem to mind it, but he didn’t ask questions and showed Legend he could turn into a fairy, so he supposed it was only fair…

Legend started swimming again, flinching when he accidently moved his back and adjusted so he was swimming with just his tail again. It was hard, but Legend had to keep going. Wind's hyrule was full of islands so it really shouldn’t take that long to find one, right?

Legend ended up losing track of time when he finally saw the outcropping of an island from under the water, but by the way the light was hitting the water, he could tell that the sun was starting to set. Where had the sun been before, when they were at the palace? Legend didn’t bother to look and cursed himself for not thinking of paying attention to that, but it was too late now. He sighed in relief at the sight of the island, and swam as fast as he could manage. He felt Hyrule tap the bottle worriedly, but he ignored him, focused on getting the hell out of the water.

The back of the island was a small cliff that was too high to climb up, so Legend circled around to find a grassy path that led up to the rest of the island. Taking a deep breath of water, Legend placed Hyrule’s bottle on the ground first, then used his right arm and his tail to start dragging himself up and out of the ocean. He threw up the water that was in his lungs as he changed back, gills fusing back into his neck while the scales of his tail faded back to legs. He took a deep breath of air. Clean refreshing air, that didn't invade his nose with the smell of salt like breathing straight seawater did. Exhaustion hit him almost as hard as he got hit in the back, but still, Legend made himself sit up. He grabbed Hyrule in the bottle, ignoring his concerned look pointedly as he stood up, where he noticed a small house sitting at the side of the island.

Legend stumbled over to the small house, taking careful steps up the porch to the door.

“DON’T touch me with your filthy hands, trespasser!” Legend did a full body flinch at the sudden yelling, and looked at the door in shock. “This cabana belongs to the master and the master alone, AWAY WITH YOU, NOW, AWAY!”

“Good Goddess Hylia, what's your deal?” Legend said, voice groggy. He just wanted to sleep somewhere warm, it was getting chilly with the sun setting and he was soaking wet.

“My DEAL is, is that this is a PRIVATE! Oasis, no-one but the master is allowed inside. NOW AWAY!”

“And who exactly is this master of the oasis?” He sighed, leaning against a fence post.

“That, is none of your business, NOW LEAVE!”

“Look, I just-”

“Leave!”

Legend sighed and resigned himself to a night outdoors. He turned to hobble off the porch, and stopped to eye the small island in the middle of the.. Pool? Puddle? He supposed a pool would work, as a puddle would imply it was only foot-deep, but it looks deep enough to swim in, so Legend was just going to call it a pool.

Legend eyed the small island in the pool that was covered with an umbrella, but like hell he was getting back into the water anytime soon, and with his back injury he doubted he could comfortably jump across the platforms he needed to to get there, so Legend ended up dismissing that place as an option. He didn’t really want to sleep under a tree or with no cover, in case it started to rain, so Legend turned back to the door for a minute, eyeing the painted-on butler then just going over to the side of the house, just out of view of the door, and sat down, opened up the bottle Hyrule was in and set it down on its side for him to climb out of.

“Looks like we can’t get inside so we’re just gonna camp out right here for now.” Legend said as he took off his bag, grimacing at the movement.

When Hyrule didn’t say anything, Legend looked over to where he stood, arms crossed and looking at legend with a face of concern and disapproval.

“... What?”

“You pushed yourself too hard, don't think I can't tell!” Legend sighed, rubbing at his temple with his better arm. He just wanted to sleep. After a minute, Hyrule’s face softened, “Get the arrowhead out of your shoulder, change into one of your dry tunics, dress the wound, then get to sleep, ok?” He said as he made his way to Legend’s bag, rifling through it until he found the bandages and practically threw them at the other hero who barely managed to catch them, then dug out one of his old green tunics, setting it by where he sat.

Legend huffed lightly. “Ok, mom.”

Hyrule rolled his eyes and with all the strength his fairy form had, he dragged out Legend’s bedroll, laying it out best he could next to the outer wall of the cabana, where he heard Legend laugh at him. It was weak and light, but nonetheless, Hyrule turned around to face 

Legend with a huff, hands on his hips and chest puffed out. “Look, I’m tiny! I’m doing my best!”

“That's what makes it so funny,” Legend said with a smile, going back to wrapping the arrow wound. “You dragging around a bedroll a hundred times your size. It’s comical.” Then, after Hyrule made a flustered noise, said in a softer tone. “I appreciate it though.”

Hyrule relaxed at that, and watched as legend put on his dry tunic with difficulty, then put his jewelry away before taking another dry hat out of his bag and placed it by his bedroll. “You can sleep on that if you want, I wont mind, but I will need it back.”

“Oh, haha, very funny.” Hyrule smiled up at Legend as he shuffled around Hyrule to get into his bedroll. “Thanks.”

Legend smiled, then settled in and closed his eyes, fast asleep in seconds, and the setting sun was only just reaching that golden hour. 

“I hope the others are alright…”


	2. Now We Wait

Hyrule woke up at the crack of dawn to the sound of a yell. Startled and confused, Hyrule doesn't really process it correctly and he shoots up from where he was sleeping in Legends hat, looking around expecting monsters or something, only to find nothing but the morning sky, a deep blue that has yet to see actual sunlight, and the island they had found yesterday. Remembering that Legend was injured, though, Hyrule spun around to see if he was ok.

Legend was curled up in his bedroll, face scrunched up in pain and half buried in his pillow as he took deep breaths that were still just a little too quick and shaky for Hyrule’s liking. Hyrule stood up to get closer to Legend, unable to tell if he was still asleep or awake. He wished he could heal him like he normally would with magic, but when he was a fairy, his healing magic became that of a fairy’s as well, meaning he’d have to be able to fly around to heal someone. Something he can’t do with a broken wing.

“Legend?” Hyrule got a pained whine in response, freaking him out a little. “What's wrong? What happened?”

Legend took deep breaths between words, “Hurts… can't.. Can’t move…”

“Ok, ok, it's ok, just relax.” Hyrule put a small hand on top of Legend’s, which was balled up in a fist just under his chin, knuckles white. “Don’t worry about moving, you need to rest. Wind knows every island in his Hyrule, he’ll find us soon enough and he’ll have the others with him and they’ll have red potions and fairies,” Legend cracked open a watery eye to look at him, “We’ll be all better in no time.” He hoped…

“I’m hungry.” Legend stated when he calmed down. They hadn’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday, when they were in Twilight’s Hyrule. And now that Hyrule thought about it, he was hungry too.

“Do you have any food in your bag?”

“I… Think so… Some dried meat…”

“Alright, I’ll go see if I can find it, don't try to move again.”

Hyrule went over to dig through Legend’s bag, shooting out when he heard a pained gasp. Legend had somehow gotten himself to sit up, leaning his side against the cabana for support.

“Legend! I said don’t move!”

Legend grimaced and groaned, but said nothing to his defense.

“Don’t try that again, or goddess help me I’ll tell Time you tried to face a group of infected monsters by yourself!” Hyrule threatened as he went back into the bag, careful not to brush his wings on anything.

This time, Hyrule successfully emerged with a small bundle of jerky wrapped in cloth. It wasn’t a lot, but it should be enough for breakfast and hopefully a snack later. He dragged it and Legend’s waterskin over to Legend, crawling partially onto his bedroll so he wouldn’t have to move too much to get to the items. Hyrule picked a small piece of jerky from the cloth then went to sit off to the side. One upside to his small form in this situation at least, is that he doesn’t have to eat as much as a normal sized hylian, half a piece of jerky being more than enough for a full meal.

Hyrule watched as Legend carefully used his right hand to pick a piece of jerky out of the bag before eating it. He still had heavy bags under his eyes, but looked better than yesterday, even though he seemed to be feeling worse.

They ate in silence, Legend poured some water into the cap of the waterskin for Hyrule to drink, then wrapped up the last few pieces of jerky for later before he carefully laid himself back down in his bedroll. Hyrule then put the dried meat back into Legend’s bag and brought out the bandages while he was in there, going over to where Legend was lying on his stomach, giving him the perfect vantage point to redress his arrow wound.

Hyrule moved the short sleeve of Legend’s tunic out of the way as he wrapped his arm with new bandages, a dark spot on his shoulder catching Hyrule’s attention. He finished wrapping Legend’s shoulder by tucking the end of the bandage under one of the wraps snuggly, then, to Legend’s curiosity, climbed up onto his shoulder. Ignoring the light pink outlines of various scars, he kneeled down and lifted the neckline of Legend’s tunic to look at his back. Hyrule felt the blood drain from his face, and he put a hand to his mouth in shock. Legend's entire upper back was one mass of purple red and blue, going from the middle of his back up until just under the hem of his tunic, some spots around the edges a sickly yellow. It looked absolutely painful.

“What is it?” Legend asked groggily, snapping Hyrule out of his shock enough to put down the hem of the tunic and slide off Legend’s shoulder, pointing a shaky finger at Legend’s nose.

“You are only allowed to move for eating, drinking, and using the restroom, otherwise you are to move as little as possible, you hear me? I’m dead serious Legend, do. Not. Move.” Hyrule accentuated each word with a tap of his finger, looking a surprised Legend right in the eye. “I’m gonna go see if there's another way I can get inside the cabana, and if there is I’m gonna try to find you a red potion or a fairy. If you move and hurt yourself, I’m hiding all your hats for a month.” He waited for Legend to nod before nodding himself and going off. Sprinting around the cabana looking for a crack or a window he could fit through and being frustrated when he came up with nothing. The walls weren’t old enough for large enough cracks to have formed, but also, who builds a cabana without any windows?!

Hyrule climbed off the porch next, determined to at least find a broken floorboard or  _ something _ . But instead, he found that the walls of the cabana extended to under the porch as well. No way under the house at all, meaning the only way in was through the door. Hyrule could barely hear what was being said when Legend first got yelled at by the painted on butler, but what he did gather was, the painting on the door was sentient, and wouldn’t let them into the cabana. Hyrule looked up from where he stood next to the stairs, dreading the climb up them, but knowing that if there's a possibility of a fairy or a red potion being inside that could help Legend, made him push on. So, back up the porch he went, flinching whenever he brushed his wing against a stair or when he moved his wings to keep his balance. When he finally got back up, he looked at the face on the door but wasn’t sure if he was even being seen.

“EXCUSE ME?” Hyrule yelled up at the door.

“And what, pray-tell, does a flightless fairy of all things want my attention for?” It answered back. So it did see him.

“Can you please let me in, just for a minute? My friend is hurt and I really need to find a potion or another fairy to heal him. Do you know if there are any inside?”

“That, I cannot tell you. This is a PRIVATE oasis, and as I told your  _ friend _ yesterday, no one is allowed entry EXCEPT for the master! Now off with you!”

“Please, I-”

  
“Nope! Off with you!”

Hyrule huffed and glared at the door. Some butler he is, not a shred of hospitality. He stomped back to where Legend was lying at the side of the cabana, his breathing calm and slow, face relaxed. He had fallen asleep while Hyrule was looking around. Hyrule relaxed. They might have landed under the ocean of this Hyrule, but they’ve never been split so far apart before. The others must’ve landed somewhere nearby as well, and hopefully were looking for them. With any luck, they’d find them on this island soon. He wasn’t looking forward to any questions about how he became a fairy, but he could live with it, he supposed, as long as Legend is no longer in pain.

Hyrule yawned. He was tired from being woken up by Legend earlier, and the sun was still barely rising. Maybe he should go back to sleep for a bit. Not to mention his broken wing was sore now. He’s been doing his best to ignore it, but it's been throbbing painfully since he’s moved his wings to keep his balance while going up and down the porch stairs, the unintentional movements probably - _ definitely- _ doing more harm than good to the broken wing.

Carefully, Hyrule spread his wings to look at the broken one. It was still bent unnaturally from where it got stuck in the lock, but, he noticed, that the tip past the bend was slightly limp. He frowned at it, contemplating for a minute before going to Legends bag to dig back out the bandages. Should’ve just left them out in the first place at this point, but whatever. He took a minute to look around the island, looking for the most likely place to find good sticks to brace his wing with, but the trees didn’t have any branches and the yard was clean save for the stray dead leaf or piece of straw from the cabana’s roof. He’d have better luck looking through Legend’s bag again, so that's what he did.

Sometimes, it's a good thing Legend is such a hoarder, as Hyrule found a thin stick almost at the bottom of the bag. He has no idea what it would’ve been for, but it looked like it was sitting in there for a while, so Hyrule took the liberty of taking it for his wing. Supplies in place, Hyrule gently wrapped his arm around his wing to bend it towards him, placing the stick on one side before wrapping it with the bandages to keep it in place. The end result was a bit heavy, but not too heavy to where he couldn’t lift up his wing or damage it further.

Hyrule threw the bangages back into the bag and grabbed a small piece of jerky while he was in there, eating that for breakfast while Legend slept. Afterwards, he took a walk around the porch to look out at the ocean, searching for any ships that could be heading their way. There were none, but there appeared to be rain on the way, if the blurry gray clouds were anything to go by. He hopes it won't be a problem and that the cabana porch had enough cover, he didn’t need anyone getting sick, and raindrops could be ridiculously huge in his small form.

When Hyrule made it back to where Legend slept, he decided maybe a nap wouldn’t be so bad, and crawled back on top of the hat laid out for him.

* * *

Legend woke up slowly, the smell of rain and salt confusing him with the sight of unfamiliar scenery. He wasn’t quite awake yet.

A couple more minutes go by where Legend lays there listening to the soft pitter-patter of rain in the grass and on the roof, skies a soft light grey, making everything feel a little softer. Reality slowly sunk back in and he remembers that his back was hurt and they were on an island in Wind’s Hyrule. His stomach growled, making him realize he was hungry. He remembered how little jerky was left in the bag yesterday, or, was it yesterday? He had lost the concept of time after falling asleep while the sun was out and now the sky is grey and rainy.

Legend remembered how little jerky he had left and decided to just let his stomach growl. He didn’t know when they would be found, if the others found them first. They needed to preserve the food. Not to mention, Legend doesn’t know if Hyrule’s eaten yet. And, speaking of Hyrule, where was he? Legend would think he would’ve reacted to him waking up. Was he still looking for a way into the cabana? Was he in the cabana?

He shifted the arm he wasn’t lying on top of to push himself up from lying down, but stopped with a gasp when his whole back ignited with pain, making his head swim. He remembers Hyrule telling him not to move unless absolutely necessary, and he wonders what his back even looks like. Must look pretty bad for Hyrule to look at him the way he did… At least, he doesn’t  _ think _ anythings broken… Legend hears shifting coming from the hat he laid out for Hyrule to sleep on, and when his vision clears he carefully moves his left arm over to it to push down a fold that blocked his view.

There, curled up in the middle of his hat was Hyrule, wing bandaged and braced with his arms wrapped around a bundle of the cloth, using it as a pillow. Legend smiled fondly at him. The little traveller was doing his best to help Legend even though he was so small. Still so strong too, he thought back to Hyrule first pulling out his bedroll. It was like watching an ant move a large rock single handedly. He didn’t know what other analogy to use, but it was so funny while also being very impressive.

Legend gently folded the hat so part of it covered Hyrule like a blanket to keep out the chill the rain brought, careful not to touch his broken wing. He was happy that Hyrule braced that, he actually couldn’t imagine how much a broken wing could hurt, but he imagined having a limb nearly folded in half the wrong way, and cringed. He brought his arm back over to himself and looked to the rain. He doesn’t remember the last time he just enjoyed the rain, as it tended to bring back bad memories, but this rain was nice. It was calm and light, and the sky wasn’t darkened by thick clouds, just a light overcast.

The first time he was in one of Wild’s storms, however, he admittedly freaked out pretty bad. His upper back stung with a phantom pain he did his best to ignore everytime thunder sounded and lightning flashed. Then, Time’s armor started to spark while they were running to a stable. He remembers how scared he was that someone was going to get hit. That  _ he _ was going to get hit. Sky was the one to calm him down when they all got inside just as lightning landed right outside the tent. The first hero’s own hands shook badly, but after Legend calmed down they kept each other steady through the rest of the storm.

Legend hoped the others were ok, and that none of them landed in the castle like he and Hyrule had. He had no idea how many of them could actually swim underwater for long enough to reach the surface if they did. He wondered where they were, how close they were to finding them, and how long it might take. He took a slow deep breath, stopping just before it hurt his back and sighed. What was he supposed to do while he waited? Was he just supposed to lie here and wait? That was boring, but he couldn’t really move right now anyways, could he?

He ended up just watching the rain and getting lost in his thoughts when he realized he had nothing to do. He couldn’t just as well fall back asleep either, he just woke up and was no longer tired. He was also still hungry. Legend eyed his bag. He left it just out of reach to grab it himself, he realized, after carefully stretching out his left arm to reach for it. He’d have to wait for Hyrule to wake up. That's fine. Then Hyrule could eat with him.

Why couldn’t they have landed anywhere other than the actual middle of the ocean. Why not just straight to outset? That would’ve made Wind happy, and no-one would be hurt or stuck in another form. They could’ve slept under a roof and no-one would have to worry about taking watch, but Time would take watch anyways because he’s an insomniac, as most of them were before they had someone to watch out for them at night. He’d stay up talking to Wind’s grandma before he finally fell asleep, then, they’d get to have the great honor of eating a combination of Wind’s Grandma’s and Wild’s cooking, eating until they were too full, then Wild would store the extras in his slate so when they left to hunt down the infected monsters that made their way into the Great Sea, they could have a tasty hearty meal that lifted everyone's spirits.

He guesses one thing he's grateful for, is that his legs didn’t get hurt at all. He should tell Hyrule he's happy he hasn’t tried transforming with his injured wing yet, as he  _ knows _ the result of changing while the area of change that needs to happen is damaged. And he knows it either hurts like hell, makes the injury worse, or it's just painfully impossible to do until it’s healed. He wonders how they would’ve dealt with Legend being stuck as a mermaid, and quickly decided he didn’t want to think about it.

Hyrule shifted from where he laid in Legend’s hat, taking him out of his thoughts. He stretched, then sat up with a big yawn. He looked out at the rain before turning to check on Legend, finding him looking at him already.

“Well Good Morning sprite, trust you slept well?” Legend asked.

Hyrule nodded and rubbed an eye. “How was your nap?”

“As good as any nap, I guess.”

“Well, that's good then?”

“Sure.”

Hyrule nodded, and Legend’s gut chose that moment to growl loudly. He felt his cheeks go pink as Hyrule giggled. “You hungry?”

“I can’t reach my bag.” Is all Legend said in answer, glaring at his bag rather than looking at the little fairy.

Hyrule looked to the bag with an “Ah.” And got up. He grabbed the strap of the bag and dragged it to within arms reach for Legend before going in and pulling out the little pouch of jerky. Legend eats while lying down this time, not forcing himself to sit up again. It was awkward, but manageable.

“Why aren’t you eating?” Legend asked Hyrule, who was just sitting on his bag.

“Oh, I ate before I fell asleep, I’m not hungry yet.”

Legend raised an eyebrow, skeptical. He didn’t want Hyrule hiding anything from him right now, so he had to make sure.

“I promise! I’m not hungry yet!” the fairy reassured, then watched Legend nervously. “Are… Are you ok?”

Legend hummed as he chewed his jerky. “As good as I’m gonna get with my back like this. It hurts like crazy if I move even slightly sometimes. It's frustrating.” His face twisted into a grimace and he glared at his food.

“I’m sorry…”

“There's nothing for you to apologize for, sprite, so don’t worry about it.”

“But I am worried about it! You can't get up or move! Your back looks like it should be broken! I couldn’t find a single way into this fucking house to check for a red potion or a fairy! I don't know when the others will find us! I don't like seeing you in so much pain all the time! It hurts!”

“Hey-”

Hyrule started to cry, “I’m worried! I’m scared…!”

Legend carefully cupped his hand around the little fairy. “Hey, Hyrule, it’s ok. I’m fine as long as I don’t get up. How long have we been here? A day?” Hyrule nodded. “It’s only been a day, and as you said, Wind knows these islands like the back of his hand. He’ll find us soon enough.” Hyrule leaned into Legend’s hand, nodding.

“I just want you to be ok…” He said softly. Legend smiled.

“I appreciate it, ‘Rule. I’ll be ok. I always am.”

Hyrule huffed a disbelieving laugh and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure.” He sniffed and stayed curled up on Legend’s hand, barely bigger than his thumb. Which Legend used to gently ruffle his fluffy hair, making him laugh a more genuine laugh. Legend let him stay like that for a bit, a new calm surrounding them as the rain started to lighten up.

“Alright, sprite, I’m gonna eat a couple more pieces of jerky then we’ll save the rest for tomorrow.”

Hyrule nodded and sat back up, freeing legend’s hand. “Ok.”

“Can you… Keep talking though? Tell me about your adventure or something, it's awfully boring being stuck in bed like this.”

The fairy laughed. “Sure, I think I have a few funny stories to tell.”

“Mm-” Legend swallowed his bite. “Only as long as they’re not  _ too  _ funny. Don’t know how well I can laugh like this, but I don't suspect it would go very well.”

“Right…”

So, Hyrule thought up some stories to tell that got a chuckle out of legend, who finished eating and put the last few pieces of jerky away. Hyrule took off the bandages on his arm from that morning and got the roll back out of his bag to re-wrap it, happy to find that it wasn’t infected. Yet. The clouds had slowly passed overhead as they talked, opening up the sky to the afternoon sun, lighting the water from the ocean and the rain covered grass. Hyrule decided he was going to walk around the porch one more time so he could look for any ships. When he got back to disappointingly announce there was still nothing, Legend distracted him by letting him cuddle up into his hand again while they talked about random things, sharing miscellaneous stories of their adventures until the sun had disappeared and the stars their only source of light. 

They pointed out the constellations they could see and recognize from where they laid under the roof of the cabana, and wondered if Wind would recognize them too. Hyrule talked about his Zeldas until he yawned, and Legend felt his eyes drooping. Hyrule moved the hat he was sleeping in closer to Legend before tucking himself in, Legend gently resting his hand on top of him, providing a comforting pressure as they fell asleep.


	3. Sick of the Sea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a longer update, also I didnt know if i should've included it or not, but it felt important to me so I left it? But like you know how some fairies can change sizes? Like great fairies? Yeah idk you'll see it was just an idea  
> Also, I forgot to mention it earlier, but what I know if Legend being a mermaid is also inspired my Mermaid's Cenote, which is a great fic I reccomend for more mermaid Legend centric stuff

_The rain drops pelted him like they were rocks with the help of the wind. The waves crashed into each other, throwing his small boat around and almost throwing him off of it. Thunder crashed where lightning struck, Link thought he’d go deaf from how it echoed off the waves._

_He held on desperately to the rope wrapped around his wrists, trying to keep control of his boat as it was lifted and thrown again. He just had to get out of the storm, make it back to Hyrule._

_The static in the air rose as the sky prepared another strike. Link could feel the hair on the back of his neck raise despite the rain, and suddenly there was light and a deafening crash._

  
  


Legend woke up with a scared yell, shooting up from where he was lying on his stomach to lean against the side of a wall. It was hard to breathe, everything was blurry and dark, and by _Hylia,_ his back was _killing_ him. The sound of heavy rain consumed his hearing until it was ringing, and the smell of saltwater invaded his nose until he thought he was underwater again.

_Where am I? Where's my boat? Am I on it? Why is it so dark? Why are my ears ringing? Why does my back hurt so much?! It's so hard to breathe._

He gasped for the air his lungs refused him, his back screaming at the movement and making him even more lightheaded. God, it _hurt._ There’s something glowing a faint pink in his vision, but he couldn’t make out what it is. He thinks he hears someone talking to him, but it's hard to tell. Everything was ringing.

Slowly, after what felt like a couple of minutes, Legend calmed down. He took deep breaths, and blinked the cloudiness from his eyes. The ringing in his ears started to fade, and under it he could hear someone.

“That's it, deep breaths, you’re ok, its ok…”

Legend took another shuddering deep breath of air, clearing the overbearing scent of saltwater with something more tame and manageable. He looked around, and noticed the stars were still out, there was no storm, it wasn’t raining. It hadn’t rained since yesterday afternoon. It was only a dream.

It was only a dream…

Legend’s vision clouded over again before he could stop it and he took a careful gasp of air. He raised his hand to his face to try and wipe off the tears, but he couldn’t stop them.

“Hey no, it's ok, it's ok,” It was Hyrule that was talking to him, Legend realized.

When the tears wouldn’t stop, Legend covered his face as if that would hide him from crying in front of Hyrule, though he knew it wouldn’t. His back stung with a combination of phantom pains and fresh pains from his sobs, but he couldn’t seem to stop those either.

He felt Hyrule climb onto his leg and pull himself up his tunic to stand on his shoulder, and he let him. A small hand grabbed his thumb and gently pulled a hand away from his face while he let the other one drop into his lap.

“It’s ok, Link, it's ok, take deep breaths.” Hyrule reassured as best he could. Legend let the hand Hyrule grabbed rest on his own shoulder as he breathed in and out shakily in an attempt to calm down. It was ok. There was no storm, the skies were clear. There was no chance of getting struck by lightning under a roof anyways. There was no dream island to save, the island they were on now was deserted and they were stranded, sure, but they were real, Hyrule is real, and so is the island. He breathed in, letting reality take back hold of his mind, pushing his grief and pain away, and breathed back out. He wiped the tears off his face, even though they kept on falling, and leaned his head against the wall. Hyrule had a hand on his jaw to keep steady as he stood on his shoulder.

“You alright?” Hyrule asked when he was sure Legend calmed down enough to answer him.

Legend nodded, then sniffed and wiped at his face again, breathing out slow and steady.

“Would you like to talk about it?”

Legend shook his head.

“Ok, that's fine. Would you like me to be quiet, or do you want a distraction?”

Legend huffed at the choice of words, then signed, _“Distraction.”_ Not feeling like using his voice at the moment.

“Ok, let me think. How about the first time I got stuck in a keyhole?”

Legend raised an eyebrow at the fairy on his shoulder.

“It wasn’t as bad as it was this time I promise! I didn’t break anything!” Hyrule laughed out sheepishly, then went to sit down on the end of Legend’s shoulder, just before the bandages covering his arrow wound ended. “Ok, so I was in a dungeon, and I had to get past a locked door, but I didn’t want to go looking for the key, right? So I decided I’d try to just... go through it as a fairy. It, wasn't as simple that time. I was just a _little_ too big to fit through it all the way, and my waist ended up getting stuck. It probably took me 20 minutes of shimmying around to get out of the lock, and I decided to just go find the keys after that.”

Legend laughed lightly and shook his head in exasperation. “ _You get into a lot of trouble for someone so tiny.”_

“Hey! Like you’re any better!” Hyrule smiled, and Legend decided that was fair.

_“Can I ask…”_ Legend started, _“How you can turn into a fairy?”_

Hyrule paused at that. Legend remembered he didn’t want it to be made into a big deal, and he wasn’t trying to make it a big deal, he was just curious.

_“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to-”_

“N-no, it’s ok, I can tell you, I’m just trying to figure out how… I havent had to explain it to anyone before.”

Legend gave him a minute to think about it.

“So, in my Hyrule, in my time, there are people who can naturally perform magic, like me, without any items, right? So, uh... but, only some of those people can perform the fairy spell, and those people have to have fairy magic in their blood, or else the spell will fall flat or go wrong if their fairy blood is too diluted… uhm… I… happen to have quite a bit of fairy blood, uh, though I don’t know how or why, but I do, so I’m able to use the fairy spell for as long as I want or need.”

Hyrule went silent after that, allowing Legend to process that information.

“So, wait, you’re… related to fairies?” Legend's voice was quiet and groggy from not using it until now. Hyrule shifted nervously.

“Yeah?”

“..... Huh... I just found a scaly skin in a chest while going through a dungeon and it fused to my legs.”

“Y-... You… what?? A skin fused to your legs??”

Legend nodded. “It was quite the shock, I was expecting flippers or a scale or something like normal to help me with the dungeon, but nope, a whole fish tail. And there's no way to get rid of it.”

Hyrule looked at him incredulously, then said. “Thats freaky.”

Legend laughed. “I’ll say, and I’ve seen some freaky shit. I guess it’s useful though, can't drown at all now.” He immediately thought of all the times he's almost drowned or suffocated because of it, but he’s not about to talk about that, that would only make Hyrule worry more.

Legend shifted carefully so he wasn’t sitting on his legs and making them fall asleep, grimacing when his back pressed slightly into the wall of the cabana, then he rested his head against his arm, making sure his back was totally relaxed. “Doesn’t mean I’m particularly fond of going from breathing air to water, or vice versa though.”

Hyrule thought back to how Legend threw up the water that was in his lungs when he got back on land, and cringed. Definitely didn’t seem like a nice way to transform.

“Is that why you don't go in the water very much?”

“Hm? Oh… no… that's... not actually why.”

Hyrule didn’t push the subject when he saw Legend’s face twist in discomfort.

“Does... anyone else know? About the whole mer-person thing? Like, your Zelda or something?”

Legend nodded, “Zelda and Impa know, and, some of the people of Labrynna, mainly the zora, but that’s it.”

They fell into a slightly awkward silence after that. Legend stared off into the distant ocean, watching as the sky ever so slowly turned a pale blue while Hyrule messed with a frayed seam on the old green tunic Legend was wearing.

“So, where is Labrynna? What other countries have you been in?” Hyrule eventually asked.

“Quite a few. Labrynna is actually quite close to Hyrule, just a quick boat ride across the ocean... and Holodrum is on the same land mass. Subrosia is actually under Holodrum, and Hytopia is south of Hyrule. There are a couple more places, but there’s no real way to get to them. You can get to Lorule if you have enough magic, or a powerful enough magic item, but that's the only way, and the other… you just can’t get to the other place. It-... It’s gone…” Legend looked down, eyebrows drawn up in a frown as he recollects something.

“Oh…” Hyrule shifted uncomfortably, he asked hoping to distract Legend from whatever’s made him upset, but instead, he ended up making him upset _again_ . _Great job Hyrule!_ He mentally chastised himself.

“I…” Legend started, his voice low and quiet, nervous, “There was a storm. I was… on my way back to Hyrule… m-...” he sighed, “Lightning hit my ship… I woke up… on an island, and I saved it, only to find out… it never existed in the first place…” Legend laughed and blinked back more tears. Goddesses this was a morning wasn’t it? “Fuck, it sounds even more stupid out loud…”

“I don’t think it sounds stupid at all.” Hyrule added softly. “I think it sounds like you did the right thing, and even though it wasn’t real in the long run, it was real enough to you, right? So, in a way, it was real, because you never forgot about it, did you? Does that make sense?”

Legend stared at Hyrule. Red hair, a blue dress, the prettiest voice in the world and a promise to never forget ringing in his ears. Tears overflowed from his eyes yet again that morning, but he smiled a wobbly smile and nodded. Hyrule smiled back.

“How about you get some more rest? The suns not even over the ocean yet and you’ve cried a lot.” He laughed and Legend looked at him again.

“Yeah, probably should...” Legend sniffed then held out his hand for Hyrule to climb onto and set him back on his hat, then grabbed his waterskin. If he didn’t have any water now, he’ll have a headache later, and that's not something he wants to deal with like this.

“I’m going to go around the porch again, I’ll be right back. Don’t hurt yourself lying down, ok?”

Legend scoffed and screwed back on the waterskin cap. “Sure. I’m gonna eat while I’m sitting upright though, eating while lying down is awkward.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet. Alright, be right back.”

“Kay.”

Legend reached out to grab his bag, the tip of his finger barely latching around the strap so he could pull it closer to get inside it. He took out the bundle of jerky that was left. He forgot there was so little. He broke off a small piece for when Hyrule got back, and started to eat what was left very slowly. He hoped to eat Wild’s cooking again soon. Preferably by the time lunch rolled around.

“Nothing still.” Hyrule reported when he got back to find Legend still up, awake, and eating, and sat down with the piece Legend broke off for him. Wings drooping and head down.

“I’m sure they’re on their way, sprite, don’t worry.”

“I know...” Hyrule looked out to the sea one more time, taking a small bite of the jerky, hoping to see something, anything, but still, as the waters turned from deep void blue to gold in the sunlight, no new speck or sign of life showed up on the horizon.

“So… how many people are related to fairies in your hyrule?” Legend asked.

The fairy’s head shot up to look at him, surprised then sheepish. “Oh, uh, I don’t know? I know the guy who taught me the spell could do it, but, that's all.”

“So, you’re related to fairies, and can turn into a fairy, how doesn’t that just make it a natural transformation you can just… do? Instead of a whole spell being needed for it?”

“I…” Hyrule paused to think about it. “I don’t know?”

Legend hummed. “Do you know what kind of fairy you’re related to?”

“What do you mean? Like a normal fairy or a great fairy?” Legend nodded. “Well, in my Hyrule, they’re all just fairies, so, I’m not sure.”

Legend got an idea. “You know, the only fairies I know that can change sizes are great fairies. You think it's possible you’re related to them?”

“Hm… Maybe…”

“What if you tried transforming back, but like, just used the magic to make yourself big again, so you’d still have wings, but you wouldn’t be so tiny anymore? You think that's possible at all?”

Hyrule thought it over. “Maybe… But.. What about the brace?”

“Your clothes shrunk with you, didn’t they?”

Hyrule thought about it some more. It might work, he’s never really thought about it too much or explored his magic like that before. But, it could also go very wrong if he wasn’t careful. But, also, he wouldn’t be so tiny and would be more able to help Legend until the others showed up if it worked. The fairy finished his piece of jerky, then stepped back, and closed his eyes in concentration. He remembered what it felt like to change, and focused on his magic, picking it apart and using the specific aspects on certain parts of himself. He kept the feeling in his wings, focused on what it normally felt like to turn back into a full hylian. He got excited when he could feel it working, and then, there was a splitting pain in his broken wing _._ He stopped the spell abruptly, and cried out, falling to one knee at the sudden pain. He looked up to Legend when his vision cleared, who was looking back with shock and worry, and Hyrule shook his head.

“What happened? It didn’t work?” Legend asked.

“It… It was working, but, I don't think it will work with a broken wing. I’ll have to try again when my wing is healed.”

“Are you ok?”

Hyrule nodded, but sat there for a minute while the pain faded.

“Goddesses, I’m such an idiot!” Hyrule startled at Legend’s sudden outburst. “Of course it wouldn’t work with an injury, how could I fucking forget!” He dropped the side of his head against the cabana wall with a hard thump, making the fairy jump.

“Hey, Legend, it’s ok, now I know that that's a possibility! We just need to wait until my wing is healed, then I’ll try again, please don’t beat yourself up over it, you’re not an idiot.”

“No, it’s not ok, ‘Rule! You got hurt because of it! Cause I forgot how much it can hurt to change with an injury like that! I, of _all_ people, know exactly how much of a bad idea transforming with an injury is! I even thought about talking to you about it yesterday and I forgot!”

“It only hurt for like, a minute, Legend. Look, see? I’m no worse for wear!” Hyrule stood up, the pain in his wing having faded back to normal. He took a couple of steps towards Legend with his wings up to prove it.

“But it still hurt you!”

“So? You were hurting earlier, and now you’re doing better right?”

“That's not-”

“We’re all heroes, right, Legend? It’s nothing I’ve never felt before, and it's nothing I’ll never feel again. It’s ok. I’m fine. You’re the one who can’t sit up on your own because of your own back! And you still have an arrow wound that has the possibility of getting infected if we’re not careful! So calm down, it’s ok. Save your energy, I don’t need you getting sick before the others get here.”

Legend huffed. He didn’t want to listen because he was frustrated, but he knew Hyrule was right. The sun just barely made it over the horizon and Legend’s had a very emotional morning, if he kept exerting this kind of energy while injured he could hurt himself even more. He rubbed at his face and took a deep breath. He was feeling pretty tired… 

“Fine.” Legend conceded, and carefully lowered himself back down to his bedroll, lying on his side to face the wall. His back protested to the movements, but relaxed when he was down.

Hyrule walked up to him, sitting back on the hat.

“I’ll wake you up if anything new comes up.”

Legend hummed, then finally let himself claim the hours of sleep he lost that morning. A gentle sea breeze brushed his hair, a seagull called out overhead, and Legend let himself dream and rest.

* * *

Hyrule would be lying if he said he wasn’t stressed. Both of them were. It's their third day on this island, and still no sign of any ships, and this is the second time Legend’s woken up screaming. He was getting awfully tired of being so small and unable to fly, and he really was hoping Legend’s idea would work. He wonders what that means about him and his heritage before going back to being worried for Legend’s general health. This morning was a lot, on both of them, and if he were to guess, it's probably only around seven a.m. But, then again, only Time would know that without some sort of clock.

Hyrule missed the others, and wondered where in Hyrule they were. If they were close to finding them at all. Were there really that many islands to check before getting to this one? Or that much distance between them?

It was around noon when Hyrule’s ear twitched at a sound caught in the breeze. He thought he heard a voice. He listened, and waited, and- there it was again!

Hyrule stood up, excitement pounding in his chest before he could stop it, and ran to the edge of the porch, looking out at the sea. He still couldn’t see anything, but he heard the voice- no, _voices._ They were getting closer, and they were definitely coming from this direction, but Hyrule couldn’t see them. Belatedly, he realized they must’ve been coming from behind the small cliff that had a waterfall pouring into the pond, which was only confirmed when a mast with a flag made itself known above it, and the nose of a ship made its way past the cliff. Now he was certain he heard Wind’s voice yell something, and quickly, he went to wake Legend.

“Legend! Legend! Wake up! They’re here! Or someone’s here! Wake up!” he pushed on his chest, apparently trying to shake him, but not strong or big enough to do so. It worked all the same, Legend grumbling as he woke up.

“Yeah, yeah I’m up I’m up, what is it?”

“Look!” Hyrule pointed to the ship, the crew now visible, and Hyrule could see Warriors and Time working with some rope while Wind ran around shouting orders at people.

Legend’s face went pale at the sight though, eyes wide in shock, now fully awake, and Hyrule frowned at the reaction.

“It. Didn’t really hit me that we’d have to travel by ship until now.” Legend said quietly in explanation, and Hyrule suddenly remembered Legend telling him of when lightning struck the ship he was on.

“Oh.”

“LEGEND?” They heard Wind’s voice yell, he was looking right at them with wide and excited eyes and he jumped from his ship, earning a startled yell from Warriors, but Wind just made his way to shore, and ran up to them while the crew and the rest of the ship eagerly set down a plank to get onto the island from.

Hyrule got up and ran to the stairs of the porch just as Wind reached them, and Wind stared at him in shock. “HYRULE?!”

The fairy flinched at the yelling, but laughed. “Yeah, please don't question it right now.”

Wind nodded. “Right, right! Where is Legend? I thought I saw him lying on the porch-,” Wind paused as he leaned over to look past the railing to see Legend looking up at him, still lying on his side.

“Hey.”

“LEGEND!” Wind grinned wide.

“Yeah, thats me.”

“Hey Wind?”

“Yea Hyrule?”

“Please tell me you guys have red potions or something with you?”

Wind eyed Hyrule’s splinted wing. “Oh! Of course!” He dug through his pack while the rest of the heros gathered over.

“It’s actually for Legend, he can’t get up, his back is hurt real bad.”

Wind paused in his search for a red potion. “No shit?” He leaned back over to look at Legend again, who raised an expectant eyebrow at Wind.

“I’ve been lying here for three days now, you better have a red potion on you.”

“Right! Uh…” Wind continued his search, throwing things around in his bag more haphazardly when he couldn’t find his bottles.

“What's going on?” Time asked when he got close enough, with War running up next with Twilight and Wild just behind him, and behind them was Four and Sky, both more leisurely in their pacing.

“Hyrule, is that you?!” Wild asked when he got closer, and Hyrule waved sheepishly. 

“Hi everyone! I can turn into a fairy! Please dont pay attention to me, ahaha!”

“Oh, right, sure, sorry.”

“Fuck.”

“Language, Sailor,” Warriors said offhandedly.

“Oh fuck off, does anyone have a red potion? I can't find my bottles.”

“Oh, yeah, here.” Twi pulled one straight out of his bag and handed it to Wind.

“Thanks!” He grabbed it and ran up the porch and towards Legend. “Sorry for making you wait!”

“Fucking finally.”

Wild offered a hand for Hyrule to climb onto and set him on his shoulder while the others went up the porch to see what was going on.

“Wait, Legend? What happened to you?”

“Long story, can someone just help me sit up without touching my back so I can drink this stupid red potion?”

“Oh, sure.” Twi kneeled down with Wind and carefully helped him sit up, but Legend still grimaced, and he clung to Twilight’s shoulder for support, and Twi took the chance to peer down the back of his tunic to look at his back. “Holy fucking Hylia, Legend, what did you do?!”

Time leaned over next to look, and then Wind and Warriors while Wild and Four tried to lean over everyone else. That went about as well as you’d expect.

“Oh shit!”

“That’s probably the biggest and worst bruise I’ve ever seen. You didn’t break anything did you?!”

“I can't see!”

“Ok, guys give him some space!” Four said as Legend swatted at Wind, the next closest person he could reach that wasn’t holding him up.

“Right! Sorry Legend!” Wind was unfazed and just handed him the potion. Legend took it eagerly, face twisting in disgust as he chugged its contents before handing the bottle back to Wind.

They waited a moment for Legend to relax and sit up on his own. “About goddess damned time.”

“How long have you two been here like this?” Twi asked, eyeing the cloth that once held jerky lying loose on the floor next to Legend’s bag and waterskin, with one of Legend’s spare hats sitting nearby, and his red tunic hanging off the side of the porch where it was left to dry.

“Too fucking long,” from Legend and “Today would make it three days,” from Hyrule were their answers.

“Fuck, I’m sorry.” Wind apologized.

“Don’t be sorry Wind, you couldn’t have known where we were.” Hyrule said.

“But! If I had just went the other way, we would’ve found you guys two days ago! And instead we spent three days going in one big circle!”

“Listen to me, Sailor,” Legend started. “Hyrule’s right. You couldn’t have known where we were. Even if I spent an unnecessary amount of time bedridden-”

“Legend-”

“- You still found us. That's good enough for me.”

“Right! Well, how are ya feeling? Think you can stand?” Warriors asked, holding out a hand in case Legend needed it, hiding his surprise when Legend actually grabbed it, and he and Twilight helped him stand up. Twilight checked his back again. “Still bruised, but it's a lot better than it was. What happened to yall?”

“Infected bokoblin with a big club from Wild’s hyrule.”

Wild cringed. “Ooooh, sorry about that.”

“Not your fault.” Hyrule added.

“Alright, someone help Legend pack his things and let’s get them off this island,” Time said, and with that he turned to lead Sky and Four back on the ship while the rest stayed to help.

Wild got out a capful of red potion for Hyrule to drink. Wind brought Legend his red tunic back and Twi helped him change while Warriors picked up what was strewn about. Wild helped Hyrule get his makeshift brace off his newly healed wing, and Hyrule took a quick test fly about, happy to finally be off the ground again. Wind rolled up Legend’s bedroll while Twi finished setting Legend up and making sure he was all good, and War helped Wind stuff it back into the bag. Hyrule landed lightly on Legends shoulder, and they smiled lightly at each other before Hyrule flew back off and transformed back to his full hylian form, taking a deep breath and hopping around to test his weight.

“Alright yall, let's get going.”

Legend eyed the ship and faltered against Twi’s arm, stopping them from moving.

“You expect me to get on _that?”_ Legend pointed an accusing finger at Wind’s ship, looking almost disgusted. Hyrule frowned, taking Legends' hand.

“Would you rather swim?” he asked, half jokingly and Legend looked at him.

“Honestly? Yes. I'd much rather swim then get on the boat.” Legend crossed his arms.

“But you’re still hurt.” Twi said.

“And what if there's a storm?” Legend’s face twitched briefly from fear to disgruntled, and Hyrule wacked Warriors’ shoulder. “What? It’s a genuine concern.” But Wild and Twilight didn’t miss the look Legend was quick to hide either.

“Not to mention there's those huge monsters in the water though, and who knows how many of those are infected. Legend, this is the safest way.” Twi added.

“There are big monsters in the water?!” Hyrule asked, eyes wide. Legends face scrunched up more in displeasure.

“Yea, we ran into one on the way here.”

“Like, what kinds of huge monsters?” Legend asked.

“Giant octorocks, they’re about the same size as the ship.” Wind answered calmly, and Legend’s face went pale but he managed to keep his facial expression neutral.

“From, that direction?” Hyrule pointed in the direction of the sunken palace they came from, face also going pale.

“Yeah?”

Hyrule laughed awkwardly. “Like, how far that way?”

“Did… did you guys swim here? From that direction?” Warriors asked.

“Maybe.” Was all Legend said.

“Then how did you get Hyrule here as a fairy?” Wild asked.

“Bottle.” Was all Hyrule said. Wild slapped his forehead with his hand. He forgot the others stored fairies in bottles, so it made sense to put fairy Hyrule in a bottle to keep him safe.

Legend sighed heavily and ran his hands down his face. “Fine, I’ll get on the stupid ship.” he said, and stomped off the porch. Hyrule caught up with him and stayed by his side while the others followed. He hesitated at the ramp, but followed Warriors and Twi up after they went ahead, Twi patting Legend’s shoulder as he passed and Hyrule gave him an encouraging smile.

“Welcome on board, you two,” Time said once they were on and the ramp was being hoisted up.

“We don't have any jobs for you two to do, but from my understanding the one with the pink hair is injured, so you take it easy for now. You can go inside the ship if ya want, and we’ll let you know if we got anything for ya to do.” A girl the same height as Wind said. “My name’s Tetra, Wind told me about your hero situation, so I guess that makes me this world’s Zelda, though I’ll hit ya if you call me that.” Tetra shook Hyrule and Legend’s hands before pointing at them and eyeing them with a look that told them that she would, in fact, hit them if they called her Zelda.

“Fair enough.” Legend said.

“Alright people, let's get going to Outset!” Tetra yelled out and the crew sprung into action.

Legend could feel the subtle rocking of the ship from under his feet and thought he would be sick. He complained as much quietly to Hyrule, so he led them inside the ship where they sat down against a wall.

“You look like you’re gonna be sick.” Hyrule said as he rubbed Legend’s back, careful to do so lightly. Legend sat with his head between his knees, taking deep controlled breaths.

“What's wrong with you?”

Hyrule jumped and Legend simply looked up to see Warriors coming inside.

“This why you didn’t want to get on the ship? You get seasick?” War laughed.

“Oh, fuck off pretty boy.”

Warriors laughed again. “Well, did you want to come back out? Wild finished making lunch. Or do you want me to bring it in to you?”

“I’d rather not go on the deck, thank you.”

“Alright, I’ll bring it in. See ya in a sec.”

And with that, Warriors went back outside, and Legend put his head back down with a groan.

When Warriors came back, it was with the rest of their group, all holding their shares of food. Daylight streaming in from the open door, Wild and War held Legend’s and Hyrule’s shares. Four was chatting with Sky about the time he fought a giant octorok in his own time, eyes subtly changing colors as his tone changed. Twi and Time were making quiet casual conversation, and Wind was telling War about how the fish in the ocean helped him make his map of the Great Sea. They settled in a circle with Legend and Hyrule in the corner of the room they were in, everyone smiling when they made eye contact in greeting.

Warriors and Wild handed them their food, which Hyrule was quick to start eating, eager and happy to not be eating jerky again while Legend picked at it, but ate. He was also happy, but his stomach rolled with the waves, and that wasn’t very comfortable for eating. No-one mentioned it, though, so Legend figured War told them he gets seasick. That's fine he supposed. It’s not far from the truth, after all.

“So, Hyrule,” Warriors started. Hyrule paused mid bite to look at him questioningly. “How can you turn into a fairy? Have you always been able to do that?”

Hyrule nervously swallowed his bite of food. “Uhm… yeah…?”

“That's really cool! Why didn’t you tell us?” Wind asked.

Hyrule shifted, feeling a little put on the spot. “Leave it guys, he can turn into a fairy. Neat! Now let the kid enjoy his meal, we’ve only eaten jerky for the past three days.” Legend but in.

“But we’re curious!”

“You’ve only eaten jerky?!”

“Yeah, and the sprites hungry. Interrogate him later.” Legend took a bite of food, ending the conversation. Hyrule smiled gratefully at him before continuing his own meal.

The rest of lunch went by slowly, everyone wanting to catch up with how these past three days went. Time listened as Four explained the best ways to clean and sharpen a sword, while Sky talked to Warriors about his Zelda, Wild listening in and contributing here and there, talking about his own Zelda and occasionally a zora prince. The three smiling softly as they thought about the people they loved and War was just happy to see the others happy. Twilight and Hyrule talked about their adventures with Wind while Legend listened in, still trying to eat his rapidly cooling food. 

Legend felt the boat go up and down at a bit of a bigger wave, and had to stop to focus on breathing. He eventually decided he just couldn’t eat anymore and set his plate down in front of him while he held his head. _He was fine. He’s fine. It’ll be fine. They’ll be off the boat and at Outset in no time. Deep breath in, count, deep breath out, count, repeat. Ignore the smell, ignore the sounds, it's fine._

“Oh, yeah, hey Wind, when will we get to your island? Outset, right?” Legend heard Hyrule eventually ask, and he felt his stomach sink.

“Oh! Yeah, hold on,” Wind pulled out his map, “Just about four days! Three if we don't run into any problems, but we all know our luck on that, and at the latest, maybe… 5 days?”

“I’m going to fucking puke.” Legend groaned.

“Like… figuratively, or literally?” Twi asked. Legend thought about it. 

“Both I think.”

“Do you need a bucket?” Hyrule asked, concerned. Legend shook his head.

“No, I don't think so right now.” Hyrule rubbed his back lightly, careful not to put too much pressure for the bruise that remained. The action helped settle his stomach a bit though, so Legend didn’t stop him.

“You gonna be alright?” Wind asked.

“I’ll be fine as soon as I get off this Hylia forsaken ship.”

Then suddenly, the ship lurched to a stop, boxes in the storage downstairs falling over with booms, and yelling could be heard from the deck.

“Fuck!” Wind got up and ran outside, the rest of their group not far behind, but Hyrule stayed by Legend to keep an eye on him as he struggled with his breathing.

Out on deck, Wind directed the other heroes as they fought off an infected giant octorok that had grabbed hold of the ship. Wind threw his boomerang at its eyes, one of them revealing black blood once it was injured, which is how they knew. The heros who had boomerangs followed Wind’s example and threw their own boomerangs at its remaining eyes. Then in the meantime they hacked away at the tentacles latched into the ship. The octorok was stubborn, though. It tugged the front end of the ship down in retaliation, boards creaked and groaned before splintering. Time was quick to go over and cut off the nearest one.

The octorok screamed and retracted its damaged limb, leaving the other uninjured one on the side of the ship. So instead of pulling the whole front of the ship down, it just leaned to one side. Another tentacle latched itself around the same side not long after, tugging it down and making the heroes and pirates struggle for balance, like it was looking to turn the whole ship over. 

The heroes threw their boomerangs at the octorok again, both parties relentless in their struggle over the other. Time and Sky running along the side of the ship that was being pulled down and sliced the offending limbs off, releasing the ship. It rocked to the other side in the water without the weight dragging it down. Everyone stumbled to the ground or barely kept their balance while the mast of the ship bashed the octorok in the head, right on it’s last eye. The octorok sank with a scream.

They all cheered and took a minute for the boat to stop rocking from side to side before Tetra ordered for everyone to get back to work. She approached the heroes next. “Could some of you go and pick up the storage room? Boxes are probably all over the place now. Link, or- Wind, go with them, you know where everything goes.”

“Aye aye. C’mon guys!” Wind waved over some of the heroes that weren’t going to be busy helping the crew members, which happened to be Sky and Time, and went back into the ship to find Legend and Hyrule sitting at the wall opposite of where they were earlier, Legend leaning over a bucket as he gagged. Immediately the three heroes went to make sure the two were all right.

“What happened out there?” Hyrule asked first, rubbing Legend’s back.

“Infected octorok, sorry about the rocking, Legend, are you okay?” Wind answered.

Legend only shook his head, trying not to throw up again.

“Here, honey.” Sky unclipped his sailcloth and draped it over Legend’s shoulders, giving him a soft pat. Legend simply hummed, but Sky knew he was thankful.

“You two let us know if you need anything, ok?” Time added, his Concerned Dad Look™ in place. Hyrule smiled at them.

“Thank you, we will.”

“You two take care!” Sky stood back up.

“We’ll be down in the storage room if you need us.” Time added before turning to head down the stairs with Sky and Wind. The three casting one more worried look at them before disappearing under the floor.

Hyrule turned back to Legend, “Doing any better?”

Legend turned his head so he could look over his arm and glared.

“Yeah, ok. Is there anything you know of that helps?”

Legend shrugged. “Considering I haven’t set foot on a ship until now, since…” He grumbled, turning his head back over the bucket.

“Oh…”

Legend mumbled something.

“What?”

“Keep rubbing my back, it makes me feel less nauseous.” He groaned.

“Oh! Sure!”


	4. Cinnamon Apples and Honey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I haven't updated in forever, after school ended I started working and its been pretty busy, so I haven't had much motivation to write, but I finally managed to get the next ten pages edited! I'm sorry if the updating schedule is inconsistent, ideally, I'd start making it weekly, but now I'm on a family trip for a week and then its back to work and THEN I'm moving across the country, so weekly realistically isn't going to work for quite a while.
> 
> On the other hand, I tried making this chapter really fluffy to give Legend a break, expand on my fairy hyrule thing, and to hopefully make up for the long break this fic had. I hope it doesn't feel rushed at all, I re-write and re-read this chapter so much I kinda got tired of it, but I finally settled on this, and I like it alot better than how alot of the other versions were going, so I hope you like it too and enjoy some morning Links with some Wild and Legend bonding! And then, I know how I'm gonna bring back mermaid legend, so I'll try to work on this as much as I can with whatever motivation and time I can get, but I'm sorry if I take a while to update this again.

The next four days were a constant state of stress for Legend, even as there continued to be no more problems since the last infected octorok monster, and the weather has been clear aside from just being generally cloudy, but it was still proving to be difficult for him.

First night on the ship, the night after they were attacked, Hyrule woke up to Legend waking up from another nightmare, being one of the lightest sleepers in their group. Legend didn’t sleep the rest of the night, but finally gave back in to sleep as the sun peeked over the waves, head resting on a now awake Hyrule’s shoulder.

The second day on ship was still stressful for him, he was tired and didn’t wake up until noon thanks to not actually getting sleep the night before. But, Hyrule also wonders how long he was actually asleep for and not just pretending so he didn’t worry anybody before he _actually_ fell asleep. That day, Legend would jump at any loud noise, but he was up and walking around. Well, somewhat. Hyrule and Sky started to take turns staying around him to keep him steady as he was really uneasy. The rest of the group dismissed it as his seasickness. That night, he stayed up for as long as he could with Hyrule keeping him company until he finally fell asleep. He didn’t sleep much that night either, though.

On day three, Legend left the cabin at the urging of others to get some fresh air. He didn’t look anywhere other than the floorboards, and he looked even more sick with the dark circles under his eyes, but he was trying. He ended up falling asleep on the stairs of the deck, where Sky later got him up to go take a nap inside so he didn’t get sunburned.

Day four, he stubbornly remained indoors again with the excuse that they would be at Outset soon enough, and Legend will go outside when they got there. By then, Sky and Hyrule took turns staying by Legend to make sure he was alright (read: sleeping), and at some point or another Legend would always fall asleep on one of them thanks to his lack of it at night. Sky often took this as a chance to nap with him. Wild may or may not have more than one picture of the softest boy in their group napping with their grumpiest person, sailcloth covering them like a blanket, but he’s not gonna tell anyone or Legend will make him delete them later.

Hyrule continued to worry about Legend all throughout the trip. Because the veteran hero trusted him enough to tell him about the time he got shipwrecked, vague as it was, Hyrule noticed the signs the others didn’t. He was nauseous, jumpy, refusing to sleep to the point he was randomly falling asleep throughout the days because of nightmares. He couldn’t eat very well, heck, he couldn’t even look anywhere other than the floor when he was outside, or he’d have to face the fact that he was on a ship again. Sky helped, maybe taking a bit more notice that Legend’s discomfort was more than seasickness than the others, but Hyrule couldn’t really tell if he figured it out or not. Either way, he was grateful for the help.

They reached Outset after noon on the fourth day. It was Sky’s turn with Legend, mostly because Legend was more likely to fall asleep with him around for some reason, and he still had the dark circles under his eyes. So, Sky stuck by him while Hyrule went outside, checking in with them every now and again until, inevitably, Hyrule went inside to find Sky and Legend asleep.

Sky was, surprisingly enough, easy to wake without waking Legend as well when they got to the island Wind’s family lived on. Not wanting to wake Legend and stop him from getting what sleep he could, Sky picked the hero up while he was still wrapped in his sailcloth to take him off the ship. Even Wind was quiet so he wouldn’t disturb him.

Wind’s grandma greeted them warmly, while Aryll ran up to Wind with a happy squeal, which almost woke Legend up. Wind urged his little sister to be quiet because someone was sleeping then hugged her and their grandmother.

They brought the heroes inside to show them where they could put their things and where Legend could sleep, Hyrule deciding to stay with him in the case he woke up from another nightmare. At this point, everyone knew every hero in their group gets nightmares, so no-one really brought it up unless they needed someone there for them, whether they admitted it helped or not. It was a quiet topic in their group, a silent agreement to ignore it unless it was brought up.

Once everyone set their stuff down, they went back outside and made a fire to huddle around while Wild and Wind’s Grandma made dinner, Hyrule and Legend in the loft above, the traveler hero letting the veteran cuddle up to him, still draped in Sky’s sailcloth with the addition of an actual blanket. Hyrule was sketching in his notebook, listening to Wild and Wind’s grandma talk about recipes as the setting sun lit up the house when Legend finally woke up. Legend stretched in the way a cat would sometimes do, by bringing his arms, which were wrapped around Hyrule's waist, towards himself in a hug. His face buried in his side. Hyrule smiled down at him as he relaxed and looked around confused, not awake enough to really realize what he was doing.

“Morning sleepy head.”

“Mmhuh?” Legend looked up at him blearily, taking a minute to wake up a bit more before sitting up, eyes still half closed as he rubbed one of blurriness. Hyrule chuckled. “Where are we? I smell something good.” he eventually asked.

“We’re at Wind’s house, Wild and Wind’s Grandma are cooking dinner right now.”

“Oh.” Legend yawned, stretched again, and looked a bit more awake. He frowned when he saw the golden light from outside, and tuned fully to Hyrule. “How long have I been asleep?”

“Maybe seven hours. Probably the best sleep you got in a while, so no-one wanted to wake you.”

“But, I, What about unloading the ship or something? No-one needed help with anything?”

Hyrule shook his head. “Nah, Tetra and Wind’s crew said they’re willing to take us to any infected monster locations, and they practically live on that boat anyways, so there's no need to unload anything other than our own stuff.”

Legend’s mood soured. “Does that mean we have to go on that death trap again?” He asked in a quieter tone.

“I’m sure the others will figure something out!”

“The longer we’re on that thing the more likely we are to run into a storm.”

“Their ship hasn’t failed before.”

“That doesn't mean it can't. What happens if we do get shipwrecked? You can't swim!” Legend’s mask of annoyance started to slip away to his fears, furrowed brows turning up and eyes going wide at the possibilities. He was thinking too much about it. Hyrule grabbed hold of his shoulders.

“Legend, listen to me, you’re overthinking it right now,-”

“No I’m not!” He shouted and Hyrule flinched but stayed his ground.

“...Everything alright?” Wild called up from the kitchen.

“Yeah, sorry, we’re fine!” Hyrule turned back to legend. “You’re right, I’m sorry, there is the possibility of running into a storm and or getting shipwrecked, but you’re starting to work yourself up. We’re on land right now and dinner will be ready soon, so relax a bit, you’ve been very stressed this past week. I know it can be hard to forget about your past when you’re surrounded by it, but remember where you are. You’re surrounded by people who care about you and are willing to help you. We may not be the best at it because we’re all hypocrites, but we’re trying, and at least we understand what you’re going through to some degree. We can help.”

Legend just stared at Hyrule for a minute before letting the remnants of his facade crumble with a heavy sigh, and falling towards Hyrule to hug him. Hyrule was stunned, and didn’t move for a second, but as soon as Legend was about to pull away, thinking he made him uncomfortable, Hyrule hugged Legend back tightly. The two stayed like that for a bit, Hyrule rubbing Legend’s back as that seemed to be one of the main things that soothed him, and Legend clung onto his tunic, face buried in his shoulder.

“Dinners Ready!!” Wild called from downstairs through the open door, attracting the heroes and Tetras crew to the house. Legend didn’t let go until they could hear the rest of their group, and stood up, helping Hyrule up too before they went downstairs to grab some food. Legend gave Sky back his Sailcloth as he got in line, Sky smiled and said good morning before ruffling his hair. Legend squawked indignantly and shooed his hand away from his hair before fixing it and his hat with a huff. The other heroes turn to smile at him and to greet him with a “Good afternoon,” or a “Sleep well?”

Once everyone got their share of food, everyone filed back out around the fire. It was crowded, but somehow everyone made it work. Wild sat in front of and in between Time and Twilight with Four sitting on Time’s other side, chatting with some of Tetra’s crew. Warriors and Wind sat next to Tetra and Aryll, and in between those two groups sat Sky and Hyrule, who were sitting in front of Legend.

The sun set quickly as they ate, Legend ended up going to get seconds now that he could comfortably eat without worrying about throwing it back up. He was hungry after four days of nausea. Eventually, though, it got late, so Time bid Tetra and her crew goodnight as they went back to their ship, and the group of heroes followed Wind and his Grandma inside while Aryll continued to pester Warriors with questions, still eager for their stories of adventure.

It was also cramped inside, to where some had to sleep in the loft while the others slept downstairs. Wind, Aryll and their grandmother naturally took their beds, while Legend, Hyrule, Warriors, and Four laid in their bedrolls on the floor of the loft. Time, Twilight, Wild, and Sky doing the same on the first floor, even if some weren’t quite ready to sleep yet, it was too dark and quiet to do anything, so they watched over those who slept, and enjoyed the night ambiance from the open windows that let in the cool ocean breeze. Allowing the rhythmic sounds of waves rolling onto shore to eventually lull them to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Legend woke up to the wonderful smell of cinnamon and apples and the quiet sounds of Wild cooking breakfast in the kitchen below. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, only to be met with a face full of curly brown hair. The veteran had been sandwiched between the wall and Hyrule cuddling with him in their sleep. Arm draped around his side with Legend’s own arm wrapped over his shoulders in a sort of hug, Hyrule’s face buried in his tunic.

There was no good way to get out of this without waking the sprite, so Legend sat there for a minute, arm raised in debate on if he should even try or not. After a minute though, he did end up ever so carefully, so very carefully, lifting Hyrule’s arm off of his side and sitting up. But then, just before Legend was in the clear, Hyrule shifted, and retracted his arm from Legend’s very light grip only to tuck it into himself and turn over. Legend tensed, holding his breath and not moving an inch until Hyrule stopped moving. Only then, did he release his breath and resume getting out of bed.

Upon standing up, Legend saw Warriors sprawled out, not quite like a starfish like Wild or Sky sometimes do, but just enough to where both Four and Hyrule ended up using his arms as part of their pillows. Legend had to try very hard to keep himself from laughing at the scene, and he wished he had Wild’s slate to take a picture with.

After recollecting himself, Legend finally stepped carefully over the rows of legs to get to the ladder and went down the loft. There, he was met with a small cuddle pile comprised of Time, Twilight, and Sky, with Twilight hugging one of Time’s arms while Time just laid on his back, and Sky was laid out like a starfish, one arm stuck under Time and Twilight like it was a pillow, and one leg draped over their legs, free from it’s blanket. Legend couldn’t help but snort at the scene, quickly covering his mouth with one hand before it could turn into full on laughter, and he carefully made his way down the rest of the latter with one hand.

Wild turned at the sound of Legend nearly laughing, and smiled mischievously. “I got a picture of them like that, it’s great. Also, good morning! I’m making cinnamon apple crepes.” He whispered as Legend made his way over the sleeping trio.

Legend grinned back, “Bet it would’ve been even better if someone woke up before you and got one with you in it, that pile of blankets beside time is definitely not his, I know that.”

Wild’s face paled slightly and he retaliated by shoving Legend playfully, smiling wide in embarrassment and humor. “Shut up!”

Legend laughed lightly and shoved him back before they both stopped to let Wild continue cooking. Legend leaned on the counter to watch and take in the smell as Wild finished his current batch, and he came to a realization. “Why cinnamon apple crepes? You know Wind doesn’t like cooked apples.”

“Oh, I know, that's why I’m gonna make him some cinnamon and honey pancakes instead, but, you and Hyrule were stuck injured on an island for three days where the rest of us got found in one day where none of us got injured. And with you being seasick the entire time we were on the ship, I figured you must’ve been very stressed out throughout the week. So, I decided to make cinnamon apple crepes, cause I know they’re your favorite and Hyrule likes anything sweet. Nothing’s better than comfort food after a long week, am I right?” Wild smiles and Legend stares at him for a minute before he scoffs.

“And people call me the softy.”

“That’s because you pretend you’re not, so we’re allowed to make fun of you for it!”

“How does that give you the right to make fun of me?” He smirked.

“Because I said so.” Wild said in a very matter-of-fact tone, the smile still plastered on his face betraying his seriousness.

Legend shoved him again and Wild laughed as he stuck a loose cinnamon covered apple in his mouth. “That doesn’t count! Give me a real reason! And give me some of that!” Legend reached around Wild to try and grab the bowl of cinnamon apple pieces, only to have Wild hold him just out of reach while holding the bowl up and away from them.

“Nuh-uh-uh! Have you washed your hands yet? I don’t think you have! You can't taste any of the ingredients until you wash your hands!”

Legend sighed, and stopped reaching for the bowl so he could go over to the sink and wash his hands while Wild started making the next batch. “Ok, now gimme!” He demanded when he got back to Wild’s side, holding his hand out expectantly so Wild could drop some cinnamon covered apple pieces into his palm, which he ate happily while leaning against the counter. It goes silent for a minute then, aside from Wild’s cooking, allowing Legend to hear a yawn before Hyrule groggily climbs down the ladder from the loft.

“Morning everyone.” Hyrule grumbles and stumbles over the sleeping pile of heroes to join Legend at the counter.

“Morning Hyrule, want some cinnamon apples before I use them all?”

“Mornin’ Sprite.”

“Sure, thank you.” Hyrule holds his hand out over the counter behind Legend so Wild could drop some apple pieces in his hand as well. Hyrule yawns again before popping one in his mouth.

“Hey, you didn’t make him wash his hands!” Legend whisper-yelled.

“Well you were going straight for the bowl! If you just held your hand out like Hyrule did from the start I may have been more inclined to just give some to you!”

Hyrule chuckled at their whispered “fight” and the two went silent once more. Legend got back up to wash the remaining cinnamon off his hands, and Wild made the last batch of cinnamon apple crepes, topping one of the plates off with honey before handing a normal plate to Legend, and the one with honey on top to Hyrule before starting to make pancakes for Wind.

Legend grabbed his plate with a triumphant “Yes!” Only, whispered as others were still sleeping, and Hyrule grabbed his with a bright smile and a soft “Thank you,” and they both dug in.

“I’m not eating jerky for another month.” Hyrule states between bites and Legend huffs.

“No kidding, but considering how big you were, you technically ate more than me, so I can’t blame you.”

Hyrule groaned. “Don’t say it like that! Now I feel bad for technically eating more than you!”

“Well, they were still tiny pieces in comparison! Don’t feel bad that you literally had a smaller stomach than me and didn’t have to eat as much to feel full.”

“I’ll pack you guys some dried fruits next time we stock up our stashes.” Wild cuts in.

“Sure.” Legend grumbled through a mouthful of crepe and Hyrule hummed appreciatively.

The rest of breakfast was quiet, and eventually, the rest of the heroes began to wake up as well. Legend is pretty sure Time has been awake for a while now, but just hasn’t gotten up yet. Four is the next to get up after Hyrule, and came down complaining Warriors smacked him in the face with his arm while he was asleep. Twilight woke up after Four got down, and embarrassed, he got up from where he was sandwiched between Time and Sky, Legend and Wild’s knowing smiles making his face get redder as Wild took out a couple plates of warm food from his slate for Twilight’s and Four’s breakfast. When Time got up next with not an ounce of grogginess, confirming Legend’s suspicions, Twilight seemed to try to sink into the floor. Now that mostly everyone was up, Legend let himself laugh at Twilight while Time pretended nothing unusual happened. Though, that's also probably because it wasn’t that unusual at this point.

Warriors came down next, still seeming to be half asleep as Wild handed him his plate of food, normally tamed hair sticking out at awkward angles he hasn’t bothered to fix yet. Wind and Aryll woke up next, along with their grandmother to join everyone for breakfast. Wild gave Wind his pancakes, and Aryll some crepes, who seemed to like the cooked apples and cinnamon, unlike her older brother, and their grandmother received some crepes as well. Then, last but not least, Sky was finally woken by the commotion, and handed his own breakfast. At this point, Hyrule and Legend had begun to clean up only to be shooed away by Wild and told to “take a day off and relax” while Wild began cleaning up himself.

Not knowing what else to do, the two just sat with the rest of the heroes while they ate and talked about how they slept. When everyone was done, Time announced that him, Sky, Warriors, and Wind were going to make sure the island was infected-monster free while the rest of them relaxed and explored if they felt like it.

“Why aren’t all of us going?” Twilight asked.

“Because Outset island is actually just two small islands connected by a wooden bridge, there won't be enough room for all of us to fight in the forest safely, it would be too cramped.” Wind answered before Time could explain.

Twilight nodded in understanding.

“If that's all settled, let's get ready to head out. We should be back by lunch if not earlier.” Time announces, and the ones going monster hunting put on their gear before bidding the rest of them a good day. It’s silent for a minute before Aryll latches onto Twilight and drags him out the door so she can show him her and her brother’s lookout. Wild follows them, eager to explore the new island while Four just says he's gonna go explore on his own. Meanwhile Wind’s grandmother announces that she’s going to a friend's house, leaving just Legend and Hyrule sitting on the living area’s floor awkwardly.

“So… What do you wanna do?” Hyrule asks.

Legend shrugs. “I don’t really feel like exploring, but if you want to you can go join Twilight and Wild.”

Hyrule huffs. “I’m not gonna leave you here by yourself so you can just sulk.”

“Well, I don’t feel like exploring an island with seagulls everywhere, but I’m not about to stop you from having fun either, so don’t stay here just for me.”

“Well, _I’m staying_ , whether you want me to or not, so how about we just figure out something to do inside while everyone else is out.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, we could read, play a game?”

Legend thought for a minute, then remembered, “We could see if you can change your size as a fairy now that you’re all healed up.”

Hyrule got excited at that. “Oh! That’s right! I forgot about that! Ok, hold on let me try that again then!”

Hyrule stood up and focused his magic into the familiar pattern that changes him into his fairy form, letting his energy surround and change him. Once that was done and he was hovering in the air, he focused on how it felt to have his wings, and how it felt to grow bigger. Hyrule took apart his magic to use the specific parts he needed for this transformation like he did that day on the porch, and used it, feeling himself grow back into his normal hylian size while keeping the feeling in his wings. When the magic took hold, he half expected something to go wrong like it did before, for a sudden sharp pain to pierce his wings, but none ever did. The magic, his magic, continued to surround him and continue to change him. It was tricky to not let it slip into the pattern he was used to, but eventually, the spell was done.

Hyrule peeked open his eyes, and smiled when he realized that he was still hovering in the air, but nothing was several times larger than him. He landed, and jumped excitedly when he confirmed that he was his normal hylian height, his pink fairy wings still firmly attached to his back. Finally, he looked at Legend for his approval.

Legend had stood up from where he was sitting to watch and make sure nothing went wrong this time, and seeing how excited Hyrule was at this new discovery of his abilities, he couldn’t help but smile back. Now that the kid knows he can manipulate his magic in other ways, it's possible they’ll be seeing him use his magic in battle more often with new spells at his disposal. _His_ spells. Legend will have to keep an eye on him with that, but he’s not gonna stop the Sprite with all of his newfound potential.

“Legend! I did it! I’m a hylian sized fairy!”

“That’s awesome Sprite!”

“Oh my god. What does this mean for my heritage?? I still don't understand the difference between Great Fairies and normal fairies. How has no one else from my time tried this yet? How come none of the people that taught me my spells taught me that I could just use my magic outside of the spells? Does anyone else even know how to do that?” Hyrule began to wonder out loud as question after question filled his head. Legend has to set a hand on his shoulder to get him to stop.

“I don’t know all the answers to those questions myself, but we have time to figure it out. I’m sure if you keep practicing you’ll have a shit ton of new spells that _you_ created that you can use. Use this to your advantage, Sprite!”

Hyrule smiled brightly at Legend. “You really are a softy.”

Legend dropped his smile. “Oh, come on! Is no-one going to drop that?”

Hyrule giggled. “I don’t think so, no.”

Legend groaned dramatically and turned to the door of the house. “Let’s just go outside so you can mess around some more, I have nothing better to do anyways.”

“Oh… Are you sure? I thought you wanted to stay inside because you didn’t like the seagulls.”

“Yeah, well I want you to practice your magic and I don’t want you burning down Wind’s house, so let's just go. I can deal with some annoying seagulls.”

“Ok, if you’re sure.” Hyrule said before flying out the door as Legend opened it, knocking him back a little.

“Hey! Careful!”

Hyrule laughed and landed on the sand, sticking his tongue out and teasing the veteran hero. Legend took the bait.

“You little shit! Get back over here!”

Wild watched from Aryll’s lookout tower as Legend chased Hyrule in an unfair game tag, taking out his slate to take pictures. Eventually Twilight and Aryll came over to see what he was laughing about and joined in watching. Aryll was fascinated by the fact that Hyrule had wings, and Twilight was just happy that Legend was having some actual fun. Wild looked at a zoomed in picture of Legend’s face, an actual bright smile in the place a snarky, sarcastic smirk would normally be, and naturally he had to agree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: I added Four to what everyone was doing after breakfast. Because I forgot about him :')  
> Listen, keeping track of... 9? 9 Links is hard afsgdhgfh

**Author's Note:**

> Im updating this everytime I've got 10 pages edited in the doc, so updates might be funky


End file.
